Part 3

Once upon a time there lived a king, who had three sons and one daughter. The daughter was kept by her father for safety in a cage, since he cared for her as for his own eyes. When the girl grew up, she one evening asked her father to let her walk a little with her brothers in the front of the palace, and her father granted her request. She had hardly, however, taken a step outside the door of the palace before a dragon came down, caught her away from her brothers, and flew up with her into the clouds.

The three brothers ran as quickly as they could, and told their father what had happened to their sister, and asked him to let them go in search of her. To this their father consented, and gave each of them a horse, and other needful things for their travelling, and they went away to find their sister. After they had travelled a long time, they came in sight of a kiosk, which was neither in the sky nor yet on the earth, but hung mid-way between both. On coming near it, they began to think that their sister might be in it, and they consulted together how they might contrive to reach it. After much deliberation they settled that one of them should kill his horse, make a thong out of the hide, and fastening one end of the thong to an arrow, shoot it from the bow so that it should strike deep in the side of the kiosk, and that thus they might be able to climb up to it. The youngest brother proposed to the eldest that he should kill his horse, but this he refused to do. In like manner the second brother refused, so that nothing remained but that the youngest should kill his horse, which he did and made a long thong out of the hide; to this he tied an arrow, which he shot towards the kiosk.

The question was then asked, who would climb up the thong? The eldest brother declared that he would not; the second also refused, and thus it was the youngest was forced to climb up. When he had reached the kiosk he went from room to room, until at length he found his sister sitting with the dragon sleeping with his head upon her knee, while she passed her fingers through the hair of his head.

When she saw her brother she was very much frightened, and made signs for him to go away before the dragon woke up. But this her brother would not do, and instead of going away took his mace and struck with all his might on the head of the dragon. The dragon moved his paw a little towards the place where he had been struck, and said to the maiden, 'I felt something bite me just here.' As he spoke the king's son gave him another blow, and the dragon said again, 'I felt something bite me just here.' When the brother lifted his mace to strike the third time, the sister pointed and showed him where to strike at the life of the dragon. So he struck at the life, and the dragon immediately fell down dead, and the king's daughter pushed him from her knee and ran quickly to her brother and kissed him. Then she took him by the hand and began to show him the various rooms of the kiosk.

First, she took him into a room where a black horse stood ready to be mounted, with all his riding-gear on him, and the whole of the harness was of pure silver.

She then led him to a second room, and in it stood a white horse, also saddled and bridled, and his harness was entirely of pure gold.

At last the sister took her brother into a third room, and there stood a cream-coloured horse, and the reins and stirrups and saddle, which were on him, were all thickly studded with precious stones.

After passing through these three rooms, she led him to a room where a young maiden sat behind a golden tambourette, busily engaged in embroidering with golden thread.

From this room they went into another, where a girl was spinning gold thread, and again into another room where a girl sat threading pearls, and before her, on a golden plate, was a golden hen with her chickens, sorting the pearls.

Having seen all these things, the brother went back to the room where the dragon lay dead, and threw him down to the earth, and the two brothers, who were below, were almost frightened to death at the sight of the dragon's carcass. The young prince then let his sister slowly down, and, after her, the three young maidens, each of them with the work on which she was employed. As he let them down, one after the other, he shouted to his brothers and told them to whom each of the maidens should belong--reserving for himself the third one, whom he also let down to the ground. This was the maiden who was engaged in threading pearls with the help of the golden hen and chickens. His brothers, however, were envious at the success of his courage, and at his having found his sister and saved her from the dragon, so they cut the thong in order that he might not be able to get down from the kiosk.

Then they found, in the fields near, a young shepherd, whom they disguised and took to their father, but forbad their sister and the three maidens, with many threats, to tell what they had done. After some time the youngest brother, who had been left in the kiosk, received the news that his two brothers and the shepherd were to marry the three maidens. On the day when his eldest brother was married, the youngest brother mounted his black horse, and just as the wedding party came back from the church, the young prince came down from the kiosk, rushed into the midst, and struck his eldest brother slightly in the back, so that he fell down from his horse; he then immediately flew back again to the kiosk. On the day that his second brother was married, the youngest again came down among the wedding party, as they left the church. He was mounted on the white horse, and he struck his second brother as he had done the eldest, so that he also fell down, and then he returned again to the kiosk. At last, on hearing that the young shepherd was going to be married to the maiden whom the prince had selected for himself, he mounted on the cream-coloured horse, descended again, and rode among the wedding guests as they came out of the church, and struck the bridegroom with his mace on his head so that he at once fell down dead. When the guests gathered round him to catch him, which he permitted them to do, making no attempt to escape from them, he soon proved to them that he himself was the third son of the king, and that the shepherd was an imposter, and that his brothers, out of envy, had left him in the kiosk, when he had found his sister and killed the dragon. His sister and the three young maidens confirmed all that he said, so that the king, in his anger at the two elder brothers, drove them away from his court; however, he married the youngest brother to the third maiden, and, at his death, left him his kingdom.

THE SNAKE'S GIFT. LANGUAGE OF ANIMALS.

Once upon a time there lived a shepherd who served his master faithfully and honestly. One day, whilst keeping the sheep in the forest, he heard a hissing, and wondered what the noise could be. So he went farther into the wood to try and find out. There he saw that the forest was on fire, and a snake was hissing in the midst of the flames. The shepherd watched to see what the snake would do, for it was quite surrounded by the fire, which approached it nearer and nearer. Then the snake cried out, 'For God's sake, good shepherd, save me from the fire!' So the shepherd stretched his crook across the flames and the snake glided rapidly over the staff and up his arm on to his shoulder, till at last it wound itself round his neck. Then the shepherd was terrified and exclaimed, 'What shall I do? What an unlucky wretch I am! I saved you, and now you are about to kill me!' The snake answered, 'Do not be afraid; only take me to the house of my father. My father is the king of snakes.' But the shepherd, being already in great fear, began to excuse himself, saying he must not leave his sheep. Then the snake said, 'Nothing will happen to your sheep. Do not be anxious about them. But let us hurry home.'

So the shepherd went on with the snake through the forest, until they came to a gate made entirely of snakes. Then the snake on the neck of the shepherd hissed, and instantly the snakes untwined themselves, so that the man could pass through. As soon as they had gone through, the snake said to him, 'When you reach my father's house he will offer to give you whatever you like--gold, silver, or precious stones. Do not, however, take any of these things. Choose, instead, the language of animals. He will hesitate at first, but at last he will give it you.' Meanwhile they arrived at the palace, and the king of snakes said, weeping, 'For God's sake, my child, where were you?' Thereupon the snake told him all that had happened, how he had been surrounded by fire, and how the shepherd had saved him. Then the snake king said to the shepherd, 'What do you wish that I should give you for saving my son?'

The shepherd answered, 'I desire nothing but the language of animals.' The snake king, however, said, 'That is not good for you, for if I give it you, and you tell any one about it, you will instantly die. Therefore it is better that you ask me for something else.' 'If you wish to give me anything,' replied the shepherd, 'give me the language of animals; if you will not give me that, I want nothing--so good-bye,' and he turned to go away. Then the snake king called him back, saying, 'If you indeed wish it so much, take it. Open your mouth.' The shepherd did so, and the snake king blew into his mouth and said, 'Now blow once yourself in my mouth.' The shepherd did so, and then the snake king blew again into his mouth, and this they did three times. After that the snake said, 'Now, you possess the language of animals; go, in God's name, but do not for the world tell any one about it. If you tell any one you will instantly die.'

The shepherd returned across the forest, and, passing through it, he understood everything the birds and animals, and even the plants, were saying to each other. When he came to his sheep he found them all there, safe and sound, so he laid himself down to rest a little. Hardly had he done so before two or three ravens settled on a tree near him, and began to converse together, saying, 'If that shepherd only knew that just on the spot where the black sheep is lying there is, deep in the earth, a cave full of gold and silver!' When the shepherd heard that he went off to his master and told him. The master brought a cart, and dug down to the cave, and carried the treasure away home. But the master was honest, so he gave up the whole of the treasure to the shepherd, saying, 'Here my son, all this wealth belongs to you. For to you God gave it. Build a house, marry, and live upon the treasure.' So the shepherd took the money, built a house, and married, and by-and-by he became the richest man in the whole neighbourhood. He kept his own shepherd, and cattle-driver, and swineherd; in short, he had great property and made much money.

Once, just at Christmas, he said to his wife, 'Get ready some wine and other food, and to-morrow we will feast the shepherds.' The wife did so, and in the morning they went to their farm. Towards evening the master said to the shepherds, 'Come here, all of you; you shall eat, drink, and make merry together, and I will go myself this night to watch the sheep.'

So the master went to watch his sheep, and, about midnight, the wolves began to howl and the dogs to bark. The wolves spoke, in wolf language, 'May we come and take something? You, also, shall get a part of the prey.' And the dogs answered, in dog language, 'Come! we also are ready to eat something.' But there was one old dog there who had only two teeth left. This old dog shouted furiously, 'Come on, you miserable wretches, if you dare. So long as I have these two teeth left you shall not do any damage to my master's property.' All this the master heard and understood. Next day he ordered all the dogs to be killed except that old one. The servants began to remonstrate, saying, 'For God's sake, master, it is a pity to do this.' But the master answered, 'Do as I have ordered you,' and started with his wife to go home. They rode on horseback, he on a fine horse and his wife on a handsome mare. But the master's horse went so fast that the wife remained a little behind. Then the master's horse neighed, and said to the mare, 'Come on, why do you stay behind?' And the mare answered, 'Ah, to you it is easy--you are carrying only one weight, and I am carrying three.' Thereupon the man turned his head and laughed. The wife saw him laughing, and urged the mare on quicker till she came up to her husband, and asked him, 'Why were you laughing?' He said merely, 'I had good reason to laugh!' But the wife was not satisfied, and again begged he would tell her why he laughed. He excused himself, exclaiming, 'Give up questioning me; what has come to you, my wife? I forget now why it was I laughed.' But the more he refused to tell her, the more she wished to know. At last the man said, 'If I tell you I shall die immediately!' That, however, did not quiet her, and she kept on asking, saying to him, 'You must tell me.' In the meantime they reached their house. When they had done so the man ordered a coffin to be made, and, when it was ready, had it placed in front of the house, and laid himself down in it. Then he said to his wife, 'Now I will tell you why I laughed, but the moment I tell you I shall die.' So he looked around once more, and saw that the old dog had come from the field, and had taken his stand over his head, and was howling. When the man noticed this he said to his wife, 'Bring a piece of bread for this poor dog.' The wife brought a piece and threw it to the dog, but the dog did not even look at it, and a cock came near and began to peck at it.

Then the dog said to the cock, 'You think only about eating. Do you know that our master is going to die?' And the cock answered, 'Well, let him die, since he is such a fool. I have a hundred wives, and often at nights I gather them all round a grain of corn, and, when they are all there, I pick it up myself. If any of them are angry, I peck them; that is my way of keeping them quiet. Only look at the master, however; he is not able to rule one single wife!'

The man, hearing that, got out of the coffin, took a stick, and called his wife to him, saying, 'Come now, and I will tell you what you want to know.' The wife, seeing she was in danger of getting a beating, left him in peace, and never asked him again why it was he laughed.

THE GOLDEN APPLE-TREE, AND THE NINE PEAHENS.

Once upon a time there lived a king who had three sons. Now, before the king's palace grew a golden apple-tree, which in one and the same night blossomed, bore fruit, and lost all its fruit, though no one could tell who took the apples. One day the king, speaking to his eldest son, said, 'I should like to know who takes the fruit from our apple-tree!' And the son said, 'I will keep guard to-night, and will see who gathers the apples.' So when the evening came he went and laid himself down, under the apple-tree, upon the ground to watch. Just, however, as the apples ripened, he fell asleep, and when he awoke in the morning, there was not a single one left on the tree. Whereupon he went and told his father what had happened. Then the second son offered to keep watch by the tree, but he had no better success than his eldest brother.

So the turn came to the king's youngest son to keep guard. He made his preparations, brought his bed under the tree, and immediately went to sleep. Before midnight he awoke and looked up at the tree, and saw how the apples ripened, and how the whole palace was lit up by their shining. At that minute nine peahens flew towards the tree, and eight of them settled on its branches, but the ninth alighted near him and turned instantly into a beautiful girl--so beautiful, indeed, that the whole kingdom could not produce one who could in any way compare with her. She stayed, conversing kindly with him, till after midnight, then thanking him for the golden apples, she prepared to depart; but, as he begged she would leave him one, she gave him two, one for himself and one for the king his father. Then the girl turned again into a peahen, and flew away with the other eight. Next morning, the king's son took the two apples to his father, and the king was much pleased, and praised his son. When the evening came, the king's youngest son took his place again under the apple-tree to keep guard over it. He again conversed as he had done the night before with the beautiful girl, and brought to his father, the next morning, two apples as before. But, after he had succeeded so well several nights, his two elder brothers grew envious because he had been able to do what they could not. At length they found an old woman, who promised to discover how the youngest brother had succeeded in saving the two apples. So, as the evening came, the old woman stole softly under the bed which stood under the apple-tree, and hid herself. And after a while, came also the king's son, and laid himself down as usual to sleep. When it was near midnight the nine peahens flew up as before, and eight of them settled on the branches, and the ninth stood by his bed, and turned into a most beautiful girl.

Then the old woman slowly took hold of one of the girl's curls, and cut it off, and the girl immediately rose up, changed again into a peahen and flew away, and the other peahens followed her, and so they all disappeared. Then the king's son jumped up, and cried out, 'What is that?' and, looking under the bed, he saw the old woman, and drew her out. Next morning he ordered her to be tied to a horse's tail, and so torn to pieces. But the peahens never came back, so the king's son was very sad for a long time, and wept at his loss. At length he resolved to go and look after his peahen, and never to come back again unless he should find her. When he told the king his father of his intention, the king begged him not to go away, and said that he would find him another beautiful girl, and that he might choose out of the whole kingdom.

But all the king's persuasions were useless. His son went into the world to search everywhere for his peahen, taking only one servant to serve him. After many travels he came one day to a lake. Now by the lake stood a large and beautiful palace. In the palace lived an old woman as queen, and with the queen lived a girl, her daughter. He said to the old woman, 'For heaven's sake, grandmother, do you know anything about nine golden peahens?' and the old woman answered, 'Oh, my son, I know all about them; they come every mid-day to bathe in the lake. But what do you want with them? Let them be, think nothing about them. Here is my daughter. Such a beautiful girl! and such a heiress! All my wealth will remain to you if you marry her.' But he, burning with desire to see the peahens, would not listen to what the old woman spoke about her daughter.

Next morning, when day dawned, the prince prepared to go down to the lake to wait for the peahens. Then the old queen bribed the servant and gave him a little pair of bellows, and said, 'Do you see these bellows? When you come to the lake you must blow secretly with them behind his neck, and then he will fall asleep, and not be able to speak to the peahens.' The mischievous servant did as the old woman told him; when he went with his master down to the lake, he took occasion to blow with the bellows behind his neck, and the poor prince fell asleep just as though he were dead. Shortly after, the nine peahens came flying, and eight of them alighted by the lake, but the ninth flew towards him, as he sat on horseback, and caressed him, and tried to awaken him. 'Awake, my darling! Awake, my heart! Awake, my soul!' But for all that he knew nothing, just as if he were dead. After they had bathed, all the peahens flew away together, and after they were gone the prince woke up, and said to his servant, 'What has happened? Did they not come?' The servant told him they had been there, and that eight of them had bathed, but the ninth had sat by him on his horse, and caressed and tried to awaken him. Then the king's son was so angry that he almost killed himself in his rage. Next morning he went down again to the shore to wait for the peahens, and rode about a long time till the servant again found an opportunity of blowing with the bellows behind his neck, so that he again fell asleep as though dead. Hardly had he fallen asleep when the nine peahens came flying, and eight of them alighted by the water, but the ninth settled down by the side of his horse and caressed him, and cried out to awaken him, 'Arise, my darling! Arise, my heart! Arise, my soul!'

But it was of no use; the prince slept on as if he were dead. Then she said to the servant, 'Tell your master to-morrow he can see us here again, but never more.' With these words the peahens flew away. Immediately after the king's son woke up, and asked his servant, 'Have they not been here?' And the man answered, 'Yes, they have been, and say that you can see them again to-morrow, at this place, but after that they will not return again.' When the unhappy prince heard that, he knew not what to do with himself, and in his great trouble and misery tore the hair from his head.

The third day he went down again to the shore, but, fearing to fall asleep, instead of riding slowly, galloped along the shore. His servant, however, found an opportunity of blowing with the bellows behind his neck, and again the prince fell asleep. A moment after came the nine peahens, and the eight alighted on the lake and the ninth by him, on his horse, and sought to awaken him, caressing him. 'Arise, my darling! Arise, my heart! Arise, my soul!' But it was of no use, he slept on as if dead. Then the peahen said to the servant, 'When your master awakens tell him he ought to strike off the head of the nail from the lower part, and then he will find me.' Thereupon all the peahens fled away. Immediately the king's son awoke, and said to his servant, 'Have they been here?' And the servant answered, 'They have been, and the one which alighted on your horse, ordered me to tell you to strike off the head of the nail from the lower part, and then you will find her.' When the prince heard that, he drew his sword and cut off his servant's head.

After that he travelled alone about the world, and, after long travelling, came to a mountain and remained all night there with a hermit, whom he asked if he knew anything about nine golden peahens. The hermit said, 'Eh! my son, you are lucky; God has led you in the right path. From this place it is only half a day's walk. But you must go straight on, then you will come to a large gate, which you must pass through; and, after that, you must keep always to the right hand, and so you will come to the peahens' city, and there find their palace.' So next morning the king's son arose, and prepared to go. He thanked the hermit, and went as he had told him. After a while he came to the great gate, and, having passed it, turned to the right, so that at mid-day he saw the city, and beholding how white it shone, rejoiced very much. When he came into the city he found the palace where lived the nine golden peahens. But at the gate he was stopped by the guard, who demanded who he was, and whence he came. After he had answered these questions, the guards went to announce him to the queen. When the queen heard who he was, she came running out to the gate and took him by the hand to lead him into the palace. She was a young and beautiful maiden, and so there was a great rejoicing when, after a few days, he married her and remained there with her.